He’s made Cardiff children smile for years with his turn as a real-life Spider-Man for kid’s parties – but this weekend parkour coach Craig Robinson will entertain TV viewers across the UK with his semi-final attempt on Ninja Warrior.

The smash-hit Saturday tea-time ITV show has been a surprise success and 28 year-old Craig has been one of the few contestants to breeze through the difficult assault course which challenges even the strongest of competitors.

The Pentwyn dad-of-one explained where his amazing skills, which took him through an obstacle course in 2.23minutes, came from.

“I’ve been practicing parkour for 12 years now and I saw the opportunity to take part in Ninja Warrior and thought I’d take up the challenge.”

Parkour, or freerunning as it’s also known, is a discipline which uses movement and self-propulsion to get around obstacles in the most efficient way possible.

Part-time lifeguard Craig is a big advocate of the skill, in which he is self taught. He said: “I didn’t have any real starting point in parkour, it sort of just happened, my mates and I, like most kids, would challenge each other to climbing trees and jumping off things and then I watched the documentary Jump London and I was hooked.

“Back then no one was really doing it here, especially in Wales, there was no YouTube, you just had to teach yourself.”

The skill came in handy when one day he was asked to dress as Spider-Man for a charity event.

“They asked me to do something at Llanishen Leisure Centre where I work and someone said it would be funny if I dressed up. But then I did and after that I got asked to do the kids’ parties. It’s great, I go in and do flip or something and their jaws drop. It’s amazing to see their reactions.

Doubled for Lewis Hamilton

Always interested in martial arts as a child, Craig is still a big fan of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, that interest, coupled with his developing skill in parkour led Craig and some friends to create Team Fluidity which saw them star in a zombie movie called Devil’s Playground and Craig also starred as a double for Lewis Hamilton in a Reebox promotional video.

Now, as well as appearing Ninja Warrior and impressing superhero fans at parties, Craig is also coaching parkour at around south Wales with PLAY: Parkour-Learning Adaptability.

He adds: ““When I was younger I never wanted a 9-5 job - I always felt like I wanted to do something I enjoyed. And this is what I’ve always been happiest doing. I’ve always loved the coaching element of parkour and now we’re starting to teach in the schools, I even took a class of senior citizens and taught them really basic movements.

“It’s not as dangerous a past-time as people think, it’s very underrated as a training method. It teaches body awareness, core strength. On Ninja Warrior some of the people may have been muscley and look really fit, but they couldn’t move their bodies. Two of the fastest times on the show came from people who study parkour.

“And since the show lots of people have told me they’d love to move like me and me that fit. But I really did the show as a challenge, to see if I could get through the course. But you get one go, you have to look at the course then just clear your mind and go.”